UK: Newcastle University has released new images of a £250 million redevelopment of purpose-built student accommodation [PBSA] site at Castle Leazes.
As part of the plans, the existing 1960s-style halls of residence will be demolished and a new student village will be built to replace it in line with modern day standards.
After Newcastle City Council approved the demolition of the existing student accommodation last month, university leaders and student housing provider Unite Students have both lodged proposals with the local authority to transform the site at Castle Leazes.
If city planners go ahead and approve those proposals, it would pave the way for two student accommodation blocks to be built, which would accommodate 2,011 students – almost double the current capacity.
To create an “innovative, inclusive, accessible and adaptable student village”, as per the proposals, a series of courtyards and a central pedestrian footway would be created at the site, while facilities such as study spaces, a gym, karaoke and cinema rooms, a games area and a café would be introduced.
Newcastle University wants to combat an “immediate and pressing shortage” of student beds for all of its first-year students enrolling in September, but to do so, it would need to increase its current bedroom capacity from 3,500 to 4,500.
The application states: “The positive experience which many former students have had at Castle Leazes highlight it as being a friendly halls of residence, in an attractive setting which is close to the campus and the city’s other facilities as well as being a place where new students are able to make friendships and feel welcome as part of Newcastle University and the city itself.
“It is intended to capture the essence of this as part of the new development and to seek to ensure that this becomes one of the city’s exemplar student living developments, with a wide range of facilities, support and pleasant internal and external spaces that cater to many aspects of contemporary living and study,” it added.
